“It would not surprise me,” the radio host Laura Ingraham said on Tuesday, “if Chris Christie at some point became a Democrat.”

The criticism began before Election Day and only intensified after Mr. Romney’s loss. It may have been strident, but it placed Mr. Christie in a familiar and comfortable spot: being talked about, for better or for worse, as much as any politician in his party — with the exception of Mr. Romney and his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin.

Other Republicans considering running in 2016 have had to watch from the sidelines as Mr. Christie has taken on a dominant role in the storm recovery, in ways that recall Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani after the Sept. 11 attacks. Over the last week, the governor has been shown repeatedly on television comforting distraught citizens who have lost everything and threatening utilities that have incurred the wrath of New Jersey residents without electricity.

President Obama alluded to Mr. Christie in his election night victory speech, saluting “leaders from every party” who “swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild.”

Photo

Gov. Chris Christie visited storm victims with President Obama, in a shelter in Brigantine, N.J. in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last week.Credit
Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Christie dismissed the catcalls on Wednesday, telling reporters at a storm briefing in Harvey Cedars, N.J., that his praise for the president was no “embrace,” just another example of his own celebrated directness.

“The fact of the matter is, I’m a guy who tells the truth all the time, and if the president of the United States does something good, I’m going to say he did something good and give him credit for it,” he said.

Asked about 2016, he responded testily. “I want to get through this storm today, O.K.?” he said. “Politics becomes a lot smaller when you’re dealing with life and death issues, it just does.”

Still, as his national profile grows, back at home, Mr. Christie must decide whether to seek re-election in a year.

His state is heavily Democratic, and one of the few that Mr. Obama carried by a wider margin than in 2008. Yet Mr. Christie, who has warred with core Democratic constituencies like the teachers’ and state workers’ unions, has shown crossover appeal. For months, his approval rating has exceeded 50 percent.

“People in New Jersey had already seen his brand of leadership, which is very hands-on, results-oriented and bipartisan,” said Michael DuHaime, who is Mr. Christie’s top political strategist. “But I think what this did is it exposed that brand of leadership to a much broader audience. Many people in the country are seeing for the first time what people in New Jersey have seen for three years.”

The governor’s handling of the storm also burnished his reputation in New Jersey. Two months ago, Democrats mocked his speech at the Republican National Convention as self-congratulatory. Few are laughing at him now.

Before the storm, there had been speculation in New Jersey about whether Mr. Christie would indeed run for a second term; he has not yet formally announced. Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, a darling of Democratic donors, looms as a possible challenger.

Ross K. Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers, said he had nearly convinced himself that Mr. Christie would follow the route of Sarah Palin and Mr. Romney, by forgoing a second term, making a few million dollars with a book or a TV job, and freeing himself to focus on a White House campaign.

Indeed, New Jersey will face enormous pension and transportation costs that Mr. Christie has deferred to a second term, raising the risk that he could be stuck in Trenton battling with Democratic lawmakers, leaving the field open to other Republican hopefuls like Mr. Ryan, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida or Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia.

“Perhaps the liberation from the toils and burdens of being the chief executive of New Jersey might be just the thing he’s looking for,” Mr. Baker said.

Others close to Mr. Christie said they could not imagine him leaving the governor’s office voluntarily, unless it was for higher office.

On the one hand, they said, he truly loves the job. On the other, they cautioned, what makes Mr. Christie’s blunt-speaking manner so compelling to watch — and so unusual — is that it comes from an elected officeholder.

Take the politician out of the office, those associates acknowledged, and he might become just another television personality with a lot of opinions.

A version of this article appears in print on November 8, 2012, on page P20 of the New York edition with the headline: With Storm Response, Christie Earns Scorn, Praise and Lots of Attention. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe